false 372812 15 Gathering three of Nancy Mitford's most famous works --<I>The Pursuit of Love</I> and <I>The Blessing</I> are included here alongside <I>Love In A Cold Climate</I>--this collection is the perfect introduction to a writer of great wit and charm, a singular voice in modern English prose whose themes are deeper and more profound than brief acquaintance might suggest. The first two novels, especially <I>Pursuit...</I>, are semi-autobiographical: the Radletts of Alconleigh are portraits of Mitford's own eccentric clan, while she herself appears as Fanny, a family cousin and the novels' narrator. The irrepressible, precocious Radletts provide many of the early instances of Mitford's deliciously wicked humour:<blockquote>There was much worse drama when Linda, aged twelve, told the daughters of neighbours, who had come to tea, what are supposed to be the facts of life. Linda's presentation of the "facts" had been so gruesome that the children left Alconleigh howling dismally, their nerves permanently impaired, their future chances of a sane and happy sex life much reduced.</blockquote>Following the amorous trajectories of Linda Radlett and of Polly Hampton, the first two books here are at once extremely funny and deeply serious, delineating the possibilities for love in a world circumscribed by the formal expectations and conventions of marriage. Mitford's heroines dramatise the search for a true or ideal relationship, regardless of social institutions or sexual orientation. If her casual attitude to adultery and, particularly, her portrait of Cedric--a gay character who is charming, flirtatious, and above all happy--resulted in her work being vilified by contemporaries for its "decadence" and "immorality", her exploration of female sexuality seems now to be resolutely modern, arguing the right to happiness and fulfilment.<p>Nancy Mitford's considerable literary output--biography, journalism, translation, fiction--has been somewhat eclipsed by the biographical extravagance of her extraordinary family: her sisters Unity and Diana (the wife of Sir Oswald Mosley) were enthusiastic fascists who notoriously cultivated the friendship of Adolf Hitler; another sister, Jessica, ran away to America and became a left-wing journalist, later writing <I>The American Way of Death</I>. Her case has not been helped by her subject-matter, for the milieu of the wealthy upper classes and their deep-rooted snobbishness and casual bigotry is one that might easily repel a reader who misses the irony, satire and the surfacing of darker concerns that characterise the books. A shame, for she is one of the true originals of modern English writing. --<I>Burhan Tufail</I> 1756303 1949 Love in a Cold Climate (Penguin Modern Classics) total:270|5:80|4:108|3:73|2:9|1:0| 270 1069 509 36 5 1 false false Mon Dec 15 09:01:53 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 09:04:09 -0800 2008
Although this is not as funny as The Persuit of Love, this is due to the circumstances in between the writing of the 2. Its slightly more savage satire than the lighter humour of the 1...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Nov 27 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 11 15:06:36 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 27 09:00:49 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Dec 27 15:19:45 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 02 08:56:56 -0800 2009 When the loo-paper gets thicker and the writing-paper gets thinner, it’s always a bad sign at home (Nancy Mitford, Love in a Cold Climate, Hamish Hamilton, 1949)

It is pretty standard, nowadays, to denigrate her as frivolous and out of touch, but I’ve always had a sneaking liking for ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jul 06 11:21:54 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 02:08:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 15 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 28 21:19:51 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 14 08:52:04 -0800 2009
The frightfully frightfully posh Aristocracy in the novel are reall...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 12:31:37 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 15:39:52 -0700 2009
The Pursuit Of Love - 5/5
Waugh-level satire of the English upper classes. Funny, well-observed, clever, large part autobiographical I think. Every inch a classic and a terrible shame that it's not recognised as such.

Love In A Cold Climate - 3...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 25 10:34:13 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 10:34:49 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 15 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 26 00:42:20 -0800 2008 Tue Aug 18 02:33:34 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Feb 10 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 04 01:10:52 -0800 2008 Sat May 10 05:02:10 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Mar 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 15:45:30 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 15:49:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 13 19:25:38 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 19:28:47 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 06:22:44 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 06:24:45 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu May 01 16:50:31 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 11 01:24:04 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 12 16:26:24 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 16:42:12 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 12 16:26:24 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sat Apr 11 18:59:58 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 11 19:01:00 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Nov 26 08:14:21 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 26 08:16:54 -0800 2008 4 2 false false Tue Aug 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 06:26:40 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 20:37:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Dec 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 07 10:52:56 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 07 12:28:49 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Aug 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 08:23:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 08:31:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Oct 27 03:29:55 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 27 03:40:22 -0700 2008 Love in a Cold Climate casts a delightfully cold and acerbic eye over aristocratic English society in the 1930s, aided by Mitford's deft (and often malicious) way with characterisation. I don't know that I would read much more of her work--Mitford is very much of her time with re...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=372812